February 2016 on FB

February 2: During our family reading of the scriptures tonight, Kanyon read one verse as "Get thee hence, Santa" (instead of Satan). We all busted out laughing, but then Josh and I found ourselves in succeeding verses mentally reading the word "Santa" instead of "Satan", too. I can't believe I've never noticed before that these two words have the same letters in their spelling!

February 3: I just signed up today for my first 5K! {it will be in Idaho Falls in June}


February 7: My thoughts on today's superbowl: disappointed in the commercials but loved the superbowl babies and the doritos ultrasound one, enjoyed the national anthem and lady Gaga ' s outfit, liked watching the head ref and his hand signals that all seemed to say "look at my muscles in this tight shirt", loved watching coldplay at halftime but wished Beyonce would've fallen down when she wobbled on the dance move (and how did there always seem to be a fan blowing on just HER hair?!!), and the giant colorful message about love in the stadium was touching. Although the game itself was a bust, the company was delightful and the food was delicious!

February 9: The odds are not in our favor at our house--50% of our family is sick: 2 of the boys have mono and 1 son has the pukey flu.

February 12 [posted by Josh]: Nothing says Happy Valentines Day, like toxic skulls and grenade launchers! 😃 This brought a smile to my face when Kanyon brought it home from school {it was the envelope he designed for his classmates' valentines to go inside}.

February 13: My grandpa finally got to be reunited with his wife and daughter in heaven last night. What a tremendous blessing for him! He lived 98 1/2 years on this earth, and lived a long, full life. He experienced so many things, and loved to tell me stories of being in the Berlin Air Lift, being a pilot during World War II, and experiences from living and flying all over the world. He built their retirement home on Lake Couer d'Alene, and I have so many fond memories of being at their house as a child. They sold that home shortly after I married Josh, and moved to Spokane. After Grandma died in 2009, I made sure to visit him at least once every year since and have enjoyed the opportunities I've had to spend one-on-one time with him. I love you, Grandpa!

February 14: 18 years ago today, Josh proposed to me. I said yes and it was the BEST decision I've ever made! Happy valentines, babe. Xoxox

February 17: My dog puked on the carpet, and was kind enough to lick all the chunks back up. Although I was glad she tried to clean up after herself, several of us gagged and nearly puked from seeing that take place. Ewww.

February 19: It was eerily quiet this morning in the house, so i went looking for the boys to see what they were up to, and I finally discovered them in their bedroom closet. They love hanging out in that little nook! I loved what i saw today when i opened this door!

February 22: An honorable way for my grandpa to be taken to his final resting place.

February 25 [posted by Josh]: You know it has been a good week when you have your skis and golf clubs in the car at the same time, and used them both.

February 26: I used the final onion from last year's garden in our dinner last night. I'm excited for spring to come so I can start growing produce once again!

February 29: It's Leap Year day!!!

Week 8

{February 22 - 28}

Monday was my Grandpa Perkins' funeral in Farmington. Josh and I drove the boys down that morning from Tremonton. The viewing was at the funeral home from 11-12:30, but I needed to practice the songs with my sisters and the pianist early, so Josh dropped me off at 10:30 while he took the boys shopping and driving around for an hour. My friend Jackie lives in Farmington, and she agreed to play the piano for us. I was so grateful, and it was awesome to see her again! We practiced the songs for about 45 minutes, then talked to family members at the viewing and took a few different group photos before the funeral began at 1:00. It was a nice funeral--my uncles and dad spoke, and I sang with my sisters.

After the funeral, grandpa's burial was at the lovely Farmington cemetery with military honors.

It was cold outside while we were at the cemetery, so we didn't stick around for a long time. A large group of us (about 40) had lunch at the restaurant ParkStone afterwards. It was a nice meal, with a lot of chatting and laughter and you could feel the love in the air. It was a good end to the family get-together that day. Sunny sat right across from me, and made me laugh! She was so adorable!

The restaurant had crayons and coloring pages for kids. Sunny wanted me to draw
her a baby giraffe and a mommy giraffe. Josh didn't think they looked much
like giraffes, though. He said they resembled something else. I'm a terrible artist!! 

When we were done eating, it was 5:00. We had a long drive ahead of us, so we said our goodbyes and left the restaurant. We stopped at my mom's house on the way home to drop off a few things, change clothes, and use the bathroom. We were only there about 5 minutes, and got back on the freeway again. We stopped in Pocatello, where Josh's car was parked. He had meetings in Boise the next two days, so we left the car on the way down to Utah the previous day because it was much less driving this way than to drive all the way home together, and have him turn around and leave at 4am for Boise the next morning. The boys watched a movie as I drove the rest of the way home in the suburban, and after it ended they slept the last half hour. We got home around 10:30, which is about the same time that Josh reached Boise. The moon was so huge and bright that night, and I enjoyed looking at it on the drive, and when we reached home.  

It was hard to get back into the swing of things on Tuesday. I was tired all day from getting home late the night before, and I struggled going to sleep without Josh being home, so I didn't go to sleep until almost midnight. I missed Josh on Tuesday; I'm not the same when he's not with me.  

Wednesday night was busy, as usual. Kanyon had scouts after school as I taught a piano lesson and Ammon had community service. When we got home, I made a quick dinner of chili dogs (I've been craving them lately), and took Jonah and Micah to basketball practice. While they were at practice, I went to the SHS Music Swing Night fundraiser. Initially, I didn't think I would go since Josh wasn't home and I didn't want to go alone. Surprisingly, John asked me to dance with him during the swing instruction. I wasn't prepared for that at all, but I loved it. I've never been swung around so much, and so fast, and led with such force. It was fun! I left at 7 to pick up the twins, and that's when all the youth had their music performances. I'm sorry I missed that part, but I'm glad that I went! Josh got home about 10:30 that night. He'd had a great day going to meetings and golfing in Boise. He said it was so warm there that he golfed in a T-shirt!

On Thursday, Josh and Ammon went to Lost Trail for the last high school ski day. Josh drove the bus, and had a great day. It was very sunny, and he enjoyed going over to the Montana side for part of the day--something we usually don't do (the ski hill is half in Idaho and half in Montana). Ammon didn't have a great day, though. He crashed into a tree before lunch, and his leg hurt so much that he rested all afternoon in the lodge with an ice pack on his leg. Thankfully, his leg isn't broken, and within a few days, it felt better. 

Josh's view from the Montana side of Lost Trail

On Friday morning, Jonah and Micah left for the overnight Klondike Derby. They spent hours packing that morning and the previous night! They wanted to be over-prepared, especially after their experience last month when they went to an overnight campout in the snow, and came home frozen! They were actually hesitant about even wanting to go this time, because of that experience, but we assured them it would be different--there's more fun activities to do, and the weather would be warmer, and other kids from the stake would be there so it would be better.

Their scoutmaster texted me that afternoon with an image of the boys' snow cave they built to sleep in that night:

Jonah and Micah got home on Saturday afternoon, and had a pretty good time. They stayed a lot drier and a lot warmer this time around, and slept in that snow cave with Erik and stayed pretty insulated. Unfortunately, their scoutmaster's truck blew a tire on the way home, so they got home later than the other boys because they had to wait for someone to come back to get them after dropping off the other boys. I found out today that they were just two miles from our house when the truck broke down!!! I wish the scoutmaster had just called me, and I would've gone right away to pick them up! I was just home working on college stuff! Josh and Ammon worked at the golf course on Saturday morning together (Ammon's first day back this season to a paying job!). That evening, we went over to the Jackson's house for dinner and games. We ate yummy taco salad (or as Darcy calls them "stacks"), and then Josh and I played "Settlers of Catan" with Phil and Darcy while Ammon and Eli messed around with blow dart guns and Xbox games, and the twins and Kanyon watched a movie and played on the wii. Josh won the Settlers game (again), after playing for a few hours. We played the card game "golf" next and Phil's nephew Daniel joined us. I won that game! I told Darcy the next time they come to our house, we can play games and it will be their turn to win! We had such a great night altogether! It's always a fun time when we go to their house!

Today is Sunday. We slept in, went to church, ate dinner at Ed & Kathy's, watched Amazing Race (we love watching that show as a family!), and Josh and I took our weekly Sunday Siesta. Kerry and Zack came over tonight and had snacks and played games. We laughed so hard at the game of "Things", and in one round, I noticed Kanyon had written "I f***ing hate you" for the category "Things you don't shout out". That is a very appropriate thing to NOT shout out, but I explained that he shouldn't be writing that word if it's something we shouldn't say! I tried to give him alternate words to use that would be just as effective (like really, and freaking, and totally), but he said next time he would just write "f -star-star-star", which is why I wrote it that way in this paragraph. We always learn something new when we play "Things" with our children!!! After that game, we taught Kerry and Zack how to play the card game "Golf" (I've been craving that game for a while now). Having such a positive activity tonight was a great way to end our weekend!

Grandpa's Funeral

Grandpa's funeral was on Monday, February 22 at the Russon Brothers Mortuary in Farmington; the same place that Grandma's funeral was back in October of 2009. I got there a little early to practice the musical numbers with my sisters and the pianist before the viewing began at 11:00. We practiced for a while, and then visited and took photos with family before the funeral started at 1:00.

My sisters and I sang the opening song together.

Cousin Liz joined us in singing the middle song

Grandpa looked so good! And so peaceful. I am so happy for him.

The Crouch's: Ben, Nate, Jared, Chris, Uncle Keith, Liz

The Perkins kids: Mick, Lisa, Cody, Tabbi, Trina, Tawna, Kala

My dad conducted the funeral. My sisters and I sang "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need", one of my dad's favorite hymnals, as the opening song. Uncle Fred gave the life sketch, and cousin Jared shared a few memories of Grandpa. My sisters, Liz, and I sang the musical number "What is this thing that Man calls Death?". The words were written by Gordon B. Hinckley, and the music was written by Janice Kapp Perry. It was the song that the MoTab choir sang at President Hinckley's death, and I thought it was very fitting. Here's most of the last verse (with just the words "There is no end but only change" missing at the beginning of the clip):

Uncle Kieth spoke about memories with Grandpa, about being with Grandma and Grandpa when Aunt Candi died, and gave a religious message too. Dad was the final speaker, and spoke about some of the service that Grandpa gave throughout his lifetime. It was a nice funeral, and it lasted about an hour.

Mick, Cody, Josh, Chris, Jared, Ben, Nate, and Uncle Harold's son Lynn were the pallbearers.

When we got to the Farmington cemetery, the national guard carried the casket to its final resting place. 

Then they folded the flag--they had to do it twice because it wasn't exact the first time. It was fascinating watching them do it with such silent precision. Everyone in attendance had their eyes on the process the whole time.

I love the coat that Sunny is wearing: I wore it as a child, too!

I spy 3 of my boys back there. Kanyon was standing right in front of me, so he's
not visible. It was freezing and he didn't bring a coat, so I let him wear mine.

Aunt Jean, Grandma's sister, is the last sibling
alive of the 8 Rigby children. 

The guard did a gun salute with three volley shots.

This officer played taps to end the
 military honors portion of the burial. 

The folded flag was given to Uncle Fred. 

After a member of the guard gave Uncle Fred the folded flag, the pallbearers each placed their boutonniere on the casket. 

Uncle Vaughan (Grandpa's brother)

Introspective Dad and Uncle Vaughan looking on

My brother Mick gave the prayer to dedicate the grave site. People left shortly after because of the cold temperatures. I got a few photos before we left, though...

Uncle Fred and Dad

Fred, Mike, and Kieth

The Perkins/Crouch cousins: Mick, Cody, Nate, Chris, Lisa, Ben,
Kala, Trina, Tawna, Tabbi, Jared, Liz

Grandma and Grandpa's final resting place. Grandma
requested that she be on the side closest to the tree.

Tabbi had reserved a room at a local restaurant for us to eat at afterwards. A lot of us went there after the burial to eat before heading our separate ways.

My mom and dad both looked so nice.

The boys walking around in the "village" where the restaurant was located.

Aunt Beverly (Grandpa's sister) sat at the table on the far right.

To my left...

To my right...Dad talked to Aunt Marsha (Grandpa's sister) and her kids. 

Sunny sat right across from me during the meal.
She's a crack-up!

The kids' table

My chicken came in the shape of a heart...how fitting!

Having Grandpa's funeral at the same place, and the burial at the same place, and seeing so many of the same faces in the extended family that I haven't seen since Grandma's funeral was such a reminiscing experience for me. It gave me the desire to look back at the photos of Grandma's funeral, but I couldn't find any of them on my blog. Although I wrote about it back in 2009, apparently I never included any photos from it, so I'm going to now! Grandma and Grandpa were such an integral part of each others' lives for so long, it's only fitting that I share this post about Grandpa's funeral and include Grandma's funeral with it, too. 

The boys looking out the large windows in the
front of the chapel that overlook the valley

Sitting: Aunt Jean (Grandma's sister), Grandpa, Fred, Lore
Standing: Uncle Bill (Grandma's brother), Uncle Ole (Grandma's bro-in-law).

Dad announced the program at the graveside service

My sisters, Liz, and I sang the musical number "How Great Thou Art",
and were accompanied by one of Tabbi's friends on the harp.

Grandma's beautiful light-pink casket with the
pallbearer's red rose boutonnieres.

Dad let everyone pick a red rose to lay on the casket after the services.

Jonah was hesitant to put his rose on the casket because he was afraid
that he would fall in the hole. 

He finally did it when I held his hand to lead him to the casket.

Aunt Jean. I just love her!

my sisters and cousin Liz.

All my siblings together: Kala, Cody, Mick, Lisa, Tawna, Tabbi, Trina

My four handsome boys

The Perkins grandkids: Aspen, Libby, Jonah, Aspen, Micah, Kanyon, Abbie

Great Aunt Elaine (Grandpa's sister) and Uncle Fred.

Dad being introspective, holding the now-empty vase. 

We ate at Red Robin in Layton after the funeral services.